Pak to launch 'targeted military offensive' in N Waziristan

From Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, May 30 (PTI) Pakistan has decided to launch
a "targeted military offensive" in the North Waziristan tribal
region bordering Afghanistan, where the army has not taken any
action so far to flush out Taliban and al-Qaeda elements
despite tremendous pressure from the US.
The understanding for launching the offensive was
developed during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen's visit to
Islamabad last week for talks with Pakistan's top civil and
military leaders, The News daily reported on Monday.
The Pakistani civil and military leadership gave the
"undertaking to operate against the militants in North
Waziristan in barter for the clean chit Clinton had granted to
them in Osama bin Laden's case", the newspaper quoted its
sources as saying.
The strategy for the action in North Waziristan Agency
was worked out long ago and the Pakistan Air Force will
initially be put into operation, the newspaper quoted its
sources as saying.
The air force will soften targets pointed out by
intelligence agencies and this will be followed by ground
action. The PAF has put in place precautionary measures to
thwart retaliatory action from militants in North Waziristan.
The PAF has started reducing "unnecessary
non-operational staff" at bases considered possible targets of
retaliatory attacks by militants, the report said.
A joint operation with the US has "been discussed but
no decision has yet been made... since it involves numerous
sensitivities", the report said.
In case Pakistan and the US agree to go in for a joint
action, it will be the first time that "foreign boots will get
a chance to be on Pakistan's soil with the consent of the host
country", the report contended.
Such a move will be made after "a careful assessment
of the situation and deliberations by the armed forces'
command in Pakistan", the report said.
A decision regarding the mode of action and its scale
has been left to the armed forces.
The sources said over 30,000 troops are already
present in North Waziristan and more troops could redeploy to
the area.
The target of any operation in the region will be the
"most violent factions" of the Pakistani Taliban.
Their leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, is "believed to be
increasingly isolated after executing a prominent former
Pakistani official over the objections of senior militant
leaders", the report said.
Though Mehsud has been linked to attacks in the tribal
areas and Afghanistan, his focus appears to be on plotting
carnage within Pakistan and this makes him a "prime target for
the army", the report added.
Pakistan's civil and military leadership has so far
rejected US pressure to launch a military operation in North
Waziristan, saying it will take action in the volatile tribal
region at a time of its choosing.
Pakistani military commanders have said that the
140,000 troops deployed in the country's northwest are too
stretched fighting militants who pose a domestic threat.
They have also said that the army will first
consolidate its position in other parts of the tribal belt,
where it has carried out military actions and achieved
successes against militants.
During her day-long visit on Friday, Clinton called on
Islamabad to act against militants waging war in Afghanistan
from Pakistani soil and to take "decisive steps" to flush out
al-Qaeda elements.
Her visit was aimed at reducing the tensions triggered
by the May 2 US raid in Abbottabad that killed al-Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden.
Fissures among the Taliban militants were laid bare in
February, when Hakimullah Mehsud released a video showing the
killing of former Inter-Services Intelligence agency officer
Sultan Amir Tarar alias Colonel Imam.
Mehsud's group held Imam for 10 months before
executing him. The killing confounded Pakistani military
officials.
The divisions that Imam's death revealed among
militant groups "could provide an opportunity for the army to
hit hard at insurgents in the North Waziristan town of Mir
Ali, where Mehsud set up bases after fleeing last year's
military assault on his headquarters in neighbouring South
Waziristan", The News reported.
Mir Ali is about 32 km from Miramshah, the town where
the leaders of the Haqqani network are based.
Ilyas Kashmiri, an al Qaeda-linked commander accused
of involvement in the Mumbai attacks, is also believed to be
in Mir Ali.
In the past few months, US drones have focussed on
targets in North Waziristan despite protests by army chief Gen
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
Pakistan's civil and military leadership believes
surgical strikes in North Waziristan will "possibly minimise
the drone attacks that fuel anti-American sentiments across
the country", the report said.